text:
– UK remains behind UAE and China, but also behind Ireland on the confidence index
London, UK, 23 April 2013 – The first quarter of 2013 saw a marked improvement in global business confidence, according to the Global Economic Conditions Survey (GECS) of almost 2,000 senior finance professionals. The survey is carried out by ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) in partnership with the US-based Institute of Management Accountants (IMA).
Almost a quarter (24%) of respondents reported increased business confidence, a rise of 5% from late 2012. Those reporting a loss of confidence fell to 37%, down from 43% in the previous quarter. The increase in business confidence has been boosted by rising expectations of a global recovery with 43% of respondents believing that the economy was improving or is about to do so, an increase of 13 percentage points since the previous quarter.
At the global level, the Middle East reported the highest increases in both business confidence and levels of optimism regarding the global recovery. Africa was the only region to report a fall in confidence in early 2013, due in part to a high number of struggling small and medium sized enterprises and non-profit organisations who reported mounting pressures on cash-flow and new orders alongside dwindling business opportunities.
Emmanouil Schizas, senior economic analyst at ACCA, cautioned: "At the global level, the confidence gains recorded in Q1 2013 are much larger than would be expected given improved economic fundamentals and are likely to dissipate. In Europe, the fallout from the Cyprus bail-in will also likely result in a loss of confidence in Q2 – so while the Q1 results are promising, they are likely to be short-lived."
Global business fundamentals showed genuine signs of improvement in early 2013, with respondents flagging reduced pressures on cash-flow, new orders and improved access to growth capital, which contributed to an overall improvement in business conditions.
Schizas continued: "Although respondents report a steady improvement in term of opportunities for investment, there is no corresponding proliferation of genuine value-added business opportunities – suggesting that too much money may soon be chasing too few opportunities at the global level."
Raef Lawson, Ph.D., CMA, CPA, IMA vice president of research, said: "The global confidence gains recorded in Q1 2013 are much larger than what would be expected given the conditions on the ground. It seems that in many markets confidence is being fuelled by an expectation of economic improvement in the future, but it's not clear, when looking at the fundamentals, where this is meant to come from. As a result, we believe this surge in confidence is likely to be short-lived."
In the UK, business confidence rose marginally, continuing the upward trend which began in the second half of 2012. UK respondents reported improvements in cash-flow and new orders, although these at lower levels than in the early part of last year. However, UK business capacity, which includes capital spending and investment, has fallen significantly in the first quarter, suggesting that the overall trend is not encouraging.
Manos Schizas suggests: "The underlying reason for the UK's loss of capacity may instead be that business opportunities dwindled in Q1, falling to levels comparable to a year ago. That said, the medium-term trend in business opportunities is flat, so capacity should stabilise."
The survey found that, within the UK, business confidence in Scotland powered ahead of the rest of the UK. It has been on the rise since mid-2012, and confidence gains have been significantly stronger here than in the rest of the UK.
The Global Economic Conditions Survey, carried out jointly by ACCA and IMA is the largest regular economic survey of accountants in the world, both in terms of the number of respondents and in terms of the numbers and scope of economic variables it monitors.


text:
2001:41d0:700:1b52:: / ntp3.rdem-systems.com
Account: Richard DEMONGEOT (#s4ppjt)
Zones: @ europe fr
Current score: 20.0 (only servers with a score higher than 10 are used in the pool)
Green/orange/red small dots are offsets (in milliseconds, using the left axis).
Blue/red "double size" dots are points/scores (using the right axis).
The y-axes (both) aren't linear to highlight what is usually the most interesting area of the data.
The Score graph
A couple of times an hour the pool system checks the time from your server and compares it to the local time. Points are deducted if the server can't be reached or if the time offset is more than 100ms (as measured from the monitoring systems). More points are deducted the bigger the offset is.
The graph is only meant as a tool to visualize trends. For more exact details of what the monitoring system found you can click on the CSV link.
The Offset graph
The monitoring system works roughly like an SNTP (RFC 2030) client, so it is more susceptible by random network latencies between the server and the monitoring system than a regular ntpd server would be.
The monitoring system can be inaccurate as much as 10ms or more.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
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text:
Today in the news: Pennsylvania woman found alive after 11 years
News to know
A Pennsylvania woman who was missing and presumed dead for 11 years turned herself in to Florida police, CNN reports. Brenda Heist told police in Key Largo, Fla., that she believed she may have been wanted in another county. When officers checked her name, they saw she was listed as "missing and possibly deceased" in by authorities in Lititz, Pa. Heist claims she met up with a group of hitchhikers in 2002 while dealing with financial difficulties and going through a divorce. They invited her to join them on their trip to Florida and she agreed. Heist spent the next 11 years in the state without attempting to contact anyone in her family. She has two children, one in college and one who has graduated. Her husband was initially suspected, then cleared, in her disappearance. He petitioned the court to have her declared dead and has since remarried.
Quote of note
"Warren is in the house." - Warren Buffett's first tweet, under the handle @WarrenBuffett. He gained 45,000 followers in under 45 minutes.
Hot video: Petraeus mistress Paula Broadwell breaks silence
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text:
Wall Street Journal Wolf to its Little Piggies: Trust Me
Sigh. Once again, the Wall Street Journal has published a nonsense op-ed that has the climate denialosphere all in a tizzy. The author of the op-ed, Matt Ridley, tries to convince us that global warming won't be so bad. The track record of correct climate science in WSJ op-eds leaves much to be desired. In Wall Street Journal: Selectively Pro-Science, I showed that WSJ op-eds fail to properly inform 93% of the time. In another study, The Union of Concerned Scientists found that WSJ op-eds mislead 81% of the time.
Matt Ridley bases his left field claim on the "expertise" of Nicholas Lewis who Ridley claims is "A semiretired successful financier from Bath, England, with a strong mathematics and physics background, Mr. Lewis has made significant contributions to the subject of climate change." Using two journal database search tools, I could only locate one paper from Lewis. Just one. I guess WSJ and Ridley think Lewis' one peer-reviewed science paper qualifies as "significant contributions to the subject of climate change" and he is qualified to overturn the many thousands of experts (including health officials, military officials, and insurers) who are very concerned about the expected planetary warming.
Here is what well-published climate scientists have been telling us for more than a decade:
- Global warming will increase the frequency and severity of heat waves
- Global warming will increase the frequency and severity of fires
- Global warming will increase the frequency and severity of drought
- Global warming will increase the frequency and severity of floods
- Global warming will increase ocean acidification thus jeopardizing the entire marine food chain from which millions and millions rely on
- Global warming will increase the frequency and severity of coral bleaching
- Global warming will increase global sea level
We are just at the very beginning stages of the global warming that is expected to come, yet, anybody with two eyes in his head can see the results of even this "modest" level of warming in the past few years:
All this from just a "modest warming" in the previous few decades. Imagine what images you will see if the expected warming (much, much more) by the year 2100 actually happens? The WSJ is supposed to be providing accurate financial advice to its subscribers, and in many cases it does. When it comes to climate change and the massive associated costs and human suffering a rapidly warming world brings with it, WSJ is misinforming its readers which is already costing them dearly. How many more billions will subscribers shell out in climate-related losses before they realize they are being duped by WSJ?
Also see:
Error-Riddled Matt Ridley Piece Lowballs Climate Change, Discredits Wall Street Journal. World Faces 10°F Warming., Joe Romm, Climate Progress
WSJ's Climate "Dynamite" Is A Dud, Max Greenberg, Media Matters
Scientists respond to the Wall Street Journal's latest junk-science climate predictions, Climate Science Watch
So-Called Skeptics Clinging To Slippery Strands Of Climate Science Denial, Stephan Lewandowsky, DeSmog Blog
15 Responses
What sort of climate can we expect when climate change is 'tackled'?
In Australia, for example, the "canary in the coal mine"[1], it is DROUGHT FREE[2], while carbon (sic) levels are the highest in 15 Million years[3]!
Can 'Super Scott' explain this?
He will be the first 'climate scientist' to do so.
[1]. http://www.homepagedaily.com/Pages/article6789-australia-faces-collapse-as-climate-change-kicks-in.aspx
[2]. http://www.theage.com.au/environment/weather/its-official-australia-no-longer-in-drought-20120427-1xpsp.html
[3]. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091008152242.htm
Mark M, so what? Who predicted an everlasting drought in this case (ans: nobody) – how long did this one last, and was it significantly longer than average?
Climate does not respond instantaneously to CO2 increase – we have had a rise (globally) of 0.6C in 30 years, with another 1C to come by mid-century. This rise is "locked in" and will happen even if we stopped emitting CO2 in the morning.
"Who predicted an everlasting drought in this case (ans: nobody)"
2008: This drought may never break
"Perhaps we should call it our new climate," said the Bureau of Meteorology's head of climate analysis, David Jones.
[ http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/this-drought-may-never-break/2008/01/03/1198949986473.html ]
"…how long did this one last, and was it significantly longer than average?"
Drought in Australia a natural phenomenon.
[ http://home.iprimus.com.au/foo7/droughthistory.html ]
"Climate does not respond instantaneously to CO2 increase-"
Ice cores show CO2 increases lag behind temperature rises
[ http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11659-climate-myths-ice-cores-show-co2-increases-lag-behind-temperature-rises-disproving-the-link-to-global-warming.html ]
"…with another 1C to come by mid-century. This rise is "locked in" and will happen…"
Our climate is dynamic & chaotic.
Nothing is "locked in", unless you mean glacial/interglacial periods.
Now, Can toby52 address my question?
Hey Handjive, that New Scientist article you link to also states:
This proves that rising CO2 was not the trigger that caused the initial warming at the end of these ice ages – but no climate scientist has ever made this claim. It certainly does not challenge the idea that more CO2 heats the planet.
Hi tommykey,
You quote from my link:
"This proves that rising CO2 was not the trigger that caused the initial warming at the end of these ice ages – but no climate scientist has ever made this claim."
Since 2007, when that New Scientist article was posted, many have tried, and are still trying –
Carbon dioxide ended last Ice Age: study
[ http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2012/04/05/3471948.htm ]
google page- "carbon dioxide warming caused end of ice age" (approx 913,000 results)
[ http://www.google.com.au/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=carbon+dioxide+warming+caused+end+of+ice+age&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&redir_esc=&ei=KajkULirIOXliAequICADQ ]
No-one disagrees CO2 contributes a warmth & balance to our climatic processes.
It is the extent of man made CO2 that causes catastrophic weather in the distant future, and only a energy tax can stop this 'warming', that is questioned.
Which leads us back to my initial question to Prof. Mandia, leader of the Climate Response Team regarding the end of drought in Australia.
One look at his bolded 7 points above and nowhere does it portend the end of droughts. Anywhere.
Can you help me, tommykey?
Handjive, you are attacking a strawman. No one says that "only a energy tax can stop this 'warming'". Climatologists say that only reducing/stopping CO2 accumulation into the atmosphere will stop the current warming (although, unless we actually reduce it, it will actually still continue for a few decades). Economists have offered a carbon tax (not an energy tax) as a possible way to get consumers to alter their consumption pattern.
Also, the key quote from David Jones is "There is a debate in the climate community, after … close to 12 years of drought, whether this is something permanent. Certainly, in terms of temperature, that seems to be our reality, and that there is no turning back."
He does NOT claim anywhere that the rainfall deficit is permanent. This is merely your interpretation based on the framing of the reporter.
Reading and understanding what is written can be difficult. It gets even more difficult when you are ideologically inclined to reject the message…
January 5, 2013.
Thanks for your time & response to my question about Australia's drought free climate and why it was never predicted amongst claims of "more drought". By Anyone.
In Australia, we have the highest carbon (sic) tax in the world, ($23 a tonne) designed to stop the world from warming.
So, I am not "attacking strawmen" , I am "living the experience", paying & preparing for perfect weather, which, I am assured by Australia's premier science body, the CSIRO, ONLY an energy tax, or a "weather tax" if you prefer, is all that is required:
The CSIRO was once a respected science body. That is not science. Nor economics.
And, Australia's carbon (sic) tax comes with compensation so consumers can keep on emitting, making no difference to consumption patterns!
Besides, what good would the tax be if emissions dropped, as the tax would be neutral revenue raising:
❝ Climatologists say that only reducing/stopping CO2 accumulation into the atmosphere will stop the current warming (although, unless we actually reduce it, it will actually still continue for a few decades). ❞
In Australia, Palaeontologist and chief climate scientist Guru Tim Flannery says 1000 years, even if we stop ALL emissions, NOW!
Flannery, the leader of our Climate Commission is not very scientific, climate or otherwise:
❝ He does NOT claim anywhere that the rainfall deficit is permanent. ❞
"Rainfall deficit". Fancy words for drought.
Quote Jones:
"IT MAY be time to stop describing south-eastern Australia as gripped by drought and instead accept the extreme dry as permanent, one of the nation's most senior weather experts warned yesterday."
❝ Reading and understanding what is written can be difficult. It gets even more difficult when you are ideologically inclined to reject the message…❞ Quite so.
The quote, "There is debate in the climate community…" is a surprise as well, as we know "the debate is over."
If there is any "debate', It would be an echo chamber, as no dissent is allowed.
So, after a round of unicorn hunting, Australia is Officially Drought Free, and we have no explanation how this is possible in a world where:
❝ #3. Global warming will increase the frequency and severity of drought ❞
Can Marco help me?
Urgh, the stupid, it burns! Handjive, how can I help someone who does not want to be helped? It is obvious you do not want to be helped by your diatribe, claiming amongst others that CSIRO says an energy tax will provide "perfect weather", with as reference a newspaper article that solely discusses the impact of an energy tax on consumer prices.
Thanks for your reply Marco.
I asked originally if anyone, especially the author of this blog, if they could explain how Australia, the 'canary in the coal mine', as Joe Romm said, is OFFICIALLY DROUGHT FREE, despite claims that more & extreme drought was expected by "climate experts". (see article point 3 above [bolded] & my first link above)
Your concept of "help" Marco, does not 'help' explain how Australia is drought free.
In Australia, we are told by the govt. funded CSIRO, in conjunction with the govt. funded BoM & Climate Commission, if we don't pay this carbon (sic) tax, cities will be wiped off the map, and droughts will become more extreme and permanent.
The CSIRO gives up ALL pretences of science, and "discusses the impact of an energy tax on consumer prices." No longer science, just propaganda.
In response to you being hurt by "the stupid"; only an ignoramus believes that climate stability is normal.
Hope that helps your pain.
And still, no one can explain how Australia is drought free in a world doomed by drought and rising temperatures.
I explained, but you just don't understand. It's the ideological blind spot you have. It's incurable.
No where have you explained how Australia is drought free.
Your immature "ideological" bent is the only strawman here.
Back to the sandbox for you, playtime is over.
With claims like point 3 above by Prof. Scott Mandia, can any one point to the science that predicted Australia to be DROUGHT FREE in 2012?
Come on Prof. Mandia, kick the kids outta here and show us the science!
No pointing to future predictions or "photos of the future," explain the results of higher carbon (sic) levels as observed in Australia now.
If I recall correctly there are many parts of Australia that are not currently in drought. I notice that the repeated proclamations of "drought free" make no mention of Australia being either "flood free" or "fire free". I wonder why that is.
We don't expect ever to be free of any of these events anyway. But do we expect them to be the same as they are now, more like they were 40+ years ago, or to get more frequent or more severe … or both?
I'm a bit late to this party, but I can't help noticing that the constant cries of we're OK, we're drought free, were streaming forth as 40+ fires burned 1000s of hectares in Tasmania. Leaves a bit of a nasty taste in my mouth. It's one thing to "believe" you're right about something. It's another thing entirely to ignore the desperate visions of an extreme climate event coming at you day after day while you propound those beliefs.
Drought in Australia a natural phenomenon.
[ http://home.iprimus.com.au/foo7/droughthistory.html ]
Australia's flora, over millions of years has come to rely on the fires and floods to survive.
[ http://www.cpbr.gov.au/fire_ecology/fire-and-biodiversity.html ]
Here is an observed history of Australian climate since discovery:
[ http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/60828173?searchTerm=drought%20flood%201863&searchLimits= ]
None of the recent fires or floods are "unprecedented."
These conditions are NOT "coming at you day after day" despite the propaganda you read on sites like this one.
What you might want to research is why people like Scott Mandia, Joe Romm and the UN-IPCC are wrong.
[http://nonewcoal.greens.org.au/publications/greenhouse-gases/australia-faces-collapse-as-climate-change-kicks-in ]
No where in any UN-IPCC reports prognosticated, predicted or had visions that any where would be drought free, least of all, Australia, "the canary in the coal mine."
They all say drought will become normal. They are wrong.
Good luck on your search for the truth.


text:
NBA Commissioner bans Sterling "for life" from Clippers
NEW YORK (AP) — Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling has been banned for life by the NBA in response to racist comments the league says he made in a recorded conversation.
Commissioner Adam Silver said he will try to force the controversial owner to sell his franchise. Sterling has also been fined $2.5 million, and Silver made no effort to hide his outrage over the comments.
He said a league investigation found that the league's longest-tenured owner was in fact the person on the audiotapes that were released over the weekend.
"We stand together in condemning Mr. Sterling's views," Silver said. "They simply have no place in the NBA."
Sterling acknowledged he was the man on the tape, Silver said.
Sterling is immediately barred from attending any NBA games or practices, be present at any Clippers office or facility, or participate in any business or player personnel decisions involving the team.
He also cannot participate in any league business going forward.
"This league is far bigger than any one owner, any one coach and any one player," Silver said.
The fine will be donated to organizations dedicated to anti-discrimination and tolerance efforts that will be jointly selected by the NBA and the Players Association, Silver said.
Sterling's comments were released over the weekend by TMZ and Deadspin, and numerous NBA owners and players have condemned them. Even President Barack Obama weighed in on the crisis, the first of Silver's brief tenure as commissioner.
Before Silver took the podium, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban tweeted out a photo of the NBA Constitution, saying "It exists for a reason."
The announcement of the sanctions came just hours before the Clippers will play Golden State in Game 5 of a knotted-up Western Conference first-round playoff series.
Several sponsors either terminated or suspended their business dealings with the team on Monday, though individual deals that some of those companies have with Clippers stars like Chris Paul and Blake Griffin will continue and were not affected. Still, it was a clear statement that companies, like just about everyone inside the league, were outraged.
The issues raised when the tapes were released over the weekend represent just another chapter in Sterling's long history of being at the center of controversy.
In the past, he's faced extensive federal charges of civil rights violations and racial discrimination in his business dealings, and some of his race-related statements would be described as shocking.
He has also been sued in the past for sexual harassment by former employees, and even the woman who goes by the name "V. Stiviano" — purportedly the female voice on the tapes at the center of this scandal — describes Sterling in court documents as a man "with a big toothy grin brandishing his sexual prowess in the faces of the Paparazzi and caring less what anyone else thought, the least of which, his own wife."
Stiviano is being sued by Rochelle Sterling, who is seeking to reclaim at least $1.8 million in cash and gifts that her husband allegedly provided the woman.


text:
Stylist refreshes clients' looks with services such as cut, deep condition, style, and single process color
Groupon Customer Reviews
About This Deal
Choice of:
- Haircut, Deep Condition, and Style
- Haircut, Deep Condition, Style, and Single Process Color
What Haircut is Best for Your Face Shape?
If you're planning on a whole new cut, check out Groupon's guide to pairing different face shapes with hairstyles.
Round (nearly equal in length and width with soft, curved edges): Balance is key to any great hairstyle, so those with round faces will benefit from layers that are long or asymmetrical; hard lines help even out a soft face shape. Hair that hits at the shoulders or collarbone provides a slimming effect. Those looking to go shorter should go very short, as volume on the sides can make faces look wider.
Square (nearly equal in length and width, but with sharp edges): Just as round faces need hard lines to cut the softness, square faces benefit from a little softening in the form of layers, waves, or razored or feathered ends. Square faces can pull off many different lengths but benefit from shorter face-framing pieces or long, piece-y bangs, both of which help to visually soften sharp angles. A part that is slightly off center can help blur harsh edges and extra length can help a square face look more oval.
Heart-shaped (wider on top, narrower toward the chin): Full or side-swept bangs help to draw focus to the eyes and away from a pronounced chin, as does a long bob that is all one length. Waves or curls that hit right below the jaw line help fill in and balance the chin area, but putting too much curl or frizz on top can make the brow appear wider.
Oval (a long face in which the brow, cheekbones, and jaw are of nearly equal widths): Long faces are the most versatile and can handle styles of varying length and texture. Bangs and cheek-length layers can both balance by adding width, as can waves, curls, or a deep off-center part.


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text:
AUCKLAND, New Zealand—File-sharing magnate Kim Dotcom was granted bail Wednesday morning New Zealand time, after the judge hearing his application ruled that the Megaupload founder has no access to funds to help him flee the country.
As part of the bail conditions, Dotcom must reside at his leased Coatesville, Auckland mansion. He cannot travel more than 80 kilometers, or 50 miles, from the Coatesville residence on which no helicopters are allowed. Earlier bail applications by Dotcom failed as he was thought to have access to helicopters and chartered private jet planes with which he could flee New Zealand.
Dotcom, who changed his last name to fit his outsize personality and online persona, is also banned from using the Internet.
Lawyers acting for the US government opposed the bail application, and claimed Dotcom has access to financial resources that make him a flight risk. However, Justice Dawson said in the North Shore District Court that as time had passed, authorities had not been able to show that Dotcom has further assets hidden, and the mere suspicion that he is very wealthy cannot be used against him.
Instead, Justice Dawson says Dotcom has "every reason to stay to be with his family and fight to keep his assets." Justice Dawson also noted that while Dotcom has Finnish and German passports both those countries have treaties with the US that would allow for prosecution should he flee to either place.
Dotcom, who as jailed on January 20, has had his bank accounts seized, as well as his cars and the entire Coatesville mansion that he lived in. Police have allowed Dotcom's pregnant wife Mona and three children to live in the mansion, however.
The lawyers acting for the US government wanted to ban Dotcom from using the Internet. Dotcom's lawyer said the condition isn't realistic, saying the Megaupload founder needs to contact his legal team in the US. to prepare his case. Justice Dawson sided with the US government, and said Dotcom shouldn't have Internet access as he has "the ability to use it for wrong purposes."
Dotcom is wanted by the US Justice Department, which accuses him and six Megaupload associates of copyright infringement to the tune of $500 million. US authorities are seeking to extradite Dotcom to Virginia to face trial on criminal conspiracy charges. He was arrested with four other Megaupload associates in a dawn raid by a large SWAT-style police force supported by two helicopters in January.
His associates, Bram van der Kolk, Finn Batato and Mathias Ortmann, won bail previously. All four now await a hearing to decide if they are to be extradited to the United States.
Listing image by Photograph by Chris


text:
A class-action lawsuit against Google, Apple, Adobe, and Intel over how they recruited employees was scheduled to go to a jury trial at the end of next month. But it's not going to happen. Court papers filed today indicate that the case has been settled. Reuters reports that the total settlement sum, which is still not in public court papers, will be $324 million.
A New York Times report on this case, published Sunday, suggested that the parties were nearing settlement. That's no surprise considering how potentially embarrassing a jury trial could have been for all of these companies.
The lawsuit had already made e-mails between Steve Jobs and Google executives about the agreements public, and more information would have surely come out. Jobs in particular may not have looked good at trial. "If you hire a single one of these people, that means war," Jobs emailed Sergey Brin, as the Times noted in its post on today's settlement.
The dispute stems from a deal between several large tech companies to not "cold call" competitors' employees in order to recruit them. The Justice Department busted all the companies involved back in 2010, and the companies agreed to halt the practice. By agreeing to not compete for each others' employees, the companies had formed a kind of anticompetitive cabal that kept engineers' wages down.
Complying with the government demand did not mollify all of the affected workers, however. A class-action antitrust lawsuit was filed to compensate the engineers, who argued that the agreement had pushed down wages. Despite the companies' best efforts to avoid a class action, US District Judge Lucy Koh certified the class.
There were more than 60,000 workers in the class. Class members claimed that the "no cold calls" agreement resulted in $3 billion of lost wages, a far cry from the settlement agreement.
Pre-trial jockeying in the case included motions over how Jobs could be portrayed by plaintiffs' lawyers. Jobs' role included threatening Palm with a patent lawsuit when it wouldn't agree to the no-poaching scheme.
The plaintiffs' case took a disturbing turn when one of the five named plaintiffs, 43-year-old programmer Brandon Marshall, died under disturbing circumstances. According to the Times story, Marshall was shot and killed by a Santa Clara County sheriff's deputy in December after he attacked the deputy with a five-inch metal spike. The deputies were responding to calls about "a distressed man who appeared possibly suicidal," wrote the Times.
The settlement "is an excellent resolution of the case that will benefit class members," said Kelly Dermody, co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs. "We look forward to presenting it to the court and making the terms available."
Lucasfilm, Intuit, and Pixar were also defendants in the original lawsuit, but those companies settled even before a class was formed. The companies will pay $20 million between them. Only 8 percent of the class members worked at those three companies.
The class agreeing to settle on Thursday consists of "all natural persons who work in the technical, creative, and/or research and development fields that are employed on a salaried basis in the United States by one or more of the following: (a) Apple from March 2005 through December 2009; (b) Adobe from May 2005 through December 2009; (c) Google from March 2005 through December 2009; (d) Intel from March 2005 through December 2009; (e) Intuit from June 2007 through December 2009; (f) Lucasfilm from January 2005 through December 2009; or (g) Pixar from January 2005 through December 2009."
Retail employees, senior executives, corporate officers, and board members are all excluded from the class.


text:
Today's News: Our Take - VIDEO: Brandi Glanville Confronts Eddie Cibrian's Former Mistress
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Brandi Glanville certainly isn't shy when it comes to throwing jabs at her ex-husband Eddie Cibrian's wife LeAnn Rimes - but what about his other former mistress?
On this week's Housewives, Glanville confronts Scheana Marie, the waitress who admitted in 2009 that she had been in a relationship with Cibrian when he was still married to Glanville. Marie had been pushing to meet Glanville ever since her admission, but this was the first time they had intentionally sat down face-to-face.
"There's questions that it'd be nice to have answers to," Glanville said before meeting Marie at a restaurant. "I'm gonna need a giant drink for this."
Winter TV 2013: Must-see new shows
And though she was the one who pressed for the conversation, Marie was equally nervous. "I don't think this is something either of us necessarily wants to do, but I think I just have so much that I need to get off my chest with you," she told Glanville, before apologizing. "It's a conversation I've been dreading for years, but I just feel like I need to have."
Glanville thanked Marie for her apology, but stopped short of offering her any comfort when Marie started to tear up.
"Don't cry. Really," Glanville interjected drily. "Because I lost my family. I lost everything that I had. So if anyone's going to cry here, it's not going to be you."
Poll: Who don't you want to see in 2013?
Later in the episode, Glanville asserted that she's in a "better place" than Marie, who's currently starring on Glanville's Housewives co-star Lisa Vanderpump's new spin-off, Vanderpump Rules, and just released her first single.
Watch Glanville and Marie's confrontation below:
View original VIDEO: Brandi Glanville Confronts Eddie Cibrian's Former Mistress at TVGuide.com
Other Links From TVGuide.com


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Auto Glass Repaired or Replaced In Your Driveway!
Local Installers In Canton, Ohio Available
Auto Glass Squad LLC built their reputation on quality glass and quality customer service. OH drivers may be able to get the cost of windshield repair covered with comprehensive insurance. You don't need to worry about finding auto glass close to Canton. You may qualify for special windshield repair offers from C-AutoGlass, Inc. Our firms are eager to give you a repair quote.
Auto Glass Services Offered
- Windshield Repair
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Canton Loves our Qualified Glass Professionals!
Chevrolet Silverado_C1500 Windshield Replacement
5 5 1
2 years ago
On time repair was made in a timely manner very professional looks great thanks
Tim W• Alliance, OH • 2001 Chevrolet Silverado_C1500
Chevrolet S10 Pickup Windshield Replacement
5 5 1
3 years ago
Service was good now have to wait for it to rain
Ray N• Avon Lake, OH • 1992 Chevrolet S10 Pickup
Acura MDX Windshield Replacement
4 5 1
4 years ago
First attempt ended with the replacement windshield being broken. A second attempt 1 week later was aborted when Windshield was not sent from Warehouse. Today the new windshield arrived and was installed successfully. Looks good will take it to Car wash in a few days to make sure no leaks. Have to give 4 stars due to issues. Thanks you Mitchel
Mitchel M• Springboro, OH • 2015 Acura MDX
Chevrolet Silverado_C1500 Windshield Replacement
5 5 1
4 years ago
On time repair was made in a timely manner very professional looks great thanks
Tim W• Alliance, OH • 2001 Chevrolet Silverado_C1500


text:
We all know how much of a grind the old 9-to-5 can be. You wake up early, spend the first hour of your morning stuck in traffic, and then you're stuck doing the same boring old thing until it's time to go home in the same traffic, go to bed, and wake up to do it all over again. One programmer had enough of this, according to the BBC: his employer started allowing workers to telecommute, so rather than continue to do the work himself, he outsourced his job to a contractor based in Shenyang, China for just a fifth of his yearly salary.
His scam went on for months before it was discovered by security auditors, who were prompted to investigate what they suspected was a malware problem. Instead, they noticed that someone was using the employee's credentials to log in to the company's VPN server from China, and they also discovered "hundreds" of invoices from the Chinese contractor on his work computer.
"Authentication was no problem," said security investigator Andrew Valentine. "He physically FedExed his RSA token to China so that the third-party contractor could log in under his credentials during the workday."
The investigation is still ongoing, but the evidence says that this guy may have had more than just this scam going: he was also apparently "working" at several other companies, making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year while paying Chinese contractors just $50,000 to get all of the work done.


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Gateway Classic Cars of Kansas City is proud to present this gorgeous 1979 Chevrolet Corvette. This stunning Corvette is powered by a strong 350 V8 paired to a smooth shifting 4 speed manual transmission. You see tons of C3 corvettes with automatics, but it is not every day that you see one with a 4-Speed! This Vette is finished in the most iconic color combo possible, who does not love Red on Red and especially with a Vinyl interior! It contains all of the necessary creature comforts including Power Steering, Power Brakes, Power Locks, Power Windows and A/C to keep you cool. Take off those T-tops, throw on some tunes and drive this little red Corvette to your hearts content.
Some additional features A/C, Aluminum wheels, AM radio, Tilt Steering Wheel, T-Tops, and the Vinyl interior.
Kansas City Sales Team
Justan Smith
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Looking To Sell Your Chevrolet Corvette?
Tens of thousands of individuals have trusted Gateway Classic Cars to sell their vehicles.Sell Your Chevrolet Corvette Today
Gateway Classic Cars and its affiliates ("Gateway Classic Cars") sells by consignment classic cars which have surpassed their original life expectancy. The vehicles sold at Gateway Classic Cars are not new; they can be expected to require greater upkeep and repair. Gateway Classic Cars has not inspected the vehicles for sale (*1). Gateway Classic Cars disclaims any and all warranties. All vehicles are sold AS-IS, WHERE-IS, with no warranties, expressed, written or implied (*2). Any descriptions or representations are for identification purposes only and are not to be construed as a warranty of any type.
Gateway Classic Cars is not responsible for any representations as to the condition and/or the value of any vehicle. Gateway Classic Cars relies on the owner(s) for information about the vehicles. Gateway Classic Cars cannot be, and is not, responsible for omissions, errors, or inaccurate representations based upon information provided to it by owner(s). By way of example only, if a vehicle is marked as numbers matching, original mileage, or complete restoration, that information has been provided to Gateway Classic Cars by the owner(s) and has not been verified by Gateway Classic Cars. Any potential buyer is encouraged to verify this information on their own prior to purchase.
Gateway Classic Cars shall and will make reasonable efforts to disclose any known defects associated with each vehicle prior to the close of a sale at the buyer's request.
Each potential purchaser understands it is his/her/their responsibility personally or through a third-party (not Gateway Classic Cars) to inspect any vehicle for potential purchase, and is relying solely on his/her/their own inspection, knowledge and judgment about any vehicle purchased.
Gateway Classic Cars assumes no responsibility for any repair regardless of any oral statements about the vehicle. No allowance or set-aside will be made on account of any omission, error, inaccurate representation, imperfection, defect or damage to any vehicle (*3).
All finalized transactions will have additional charges if applicable
which may include the following: sales tax, title fees, license &
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The advertised price includes a administration fee of $397.63.
All credit cards will be charged a 3% convenience fee.
Typographical errors happen. Gateway Classic Cars is not responsible for any such error in the description or price listed for any vehicle.
(*1) Except in the State of Wisconsin.
(*2) Except in the State of Kansas where certain warranties implied by law are not disclaimed.
(*3) Except in the State of Kansas where remedies for certain implied warranties cannot be disclaimed.


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More specialty license plates on road to approval
Despite concerns expressed by law enforcement officials, Illinois legislators this year may add nine or more new specialty license plates to the more than 60 currently available.
Bob Howlett, deputy director of the Illinois Sheriffs' Association, said although the association is neutral on the introduction of new plates, they do add to confusion for police officers on the street.
"In general terms, all the specialty plates are not good for law enforcement," Howlett said. "We think there's enough plates out there."
Sen. Dan Rutherford, R-Chenoa, said specialty plates could lead to dangerous situations for Illinois drivers.
He pointed to a 2002 incident in which police in Florida questioned two Hanover Park, Ill., men about alleged terrorist threats that actually had been made by three different men. The two groups were driving cars with Illinois plates that both had the same numbers but were different plate styles.
"Guns were drawn," Rutherford said.
Rutherford's solution is a universal license plate in which stickers area used to promote charitable causes. A universal plate law passed but has never been implemented by the Secretary of State's office.
In all, more than a dozen specialty plate bills were introduced this year, covering interests ranging from NASCAR to Special Olympics to the Sheet Metal Workers International Association.
Other legislation would increase the number of people able to apply for certain specialty plates, such as Korean War license plates for veterans of the Korean War. House Bill 2783 would extend the dates of service eligible for the license plate.
Specialty plates are available from the Secretary of State's office for an extra fee. The extra money is generally deposited in a fund supporting the cause the license plate depicts.
For instance, HB 2808, introduced by Rep. Patricia Bellock, R-Hinsdale, would create an Autism Awareness license plate. An extra $40 would be charged for the plate, $25 of which would be deposited into an Autism Awareness fund.
Bellock introduced the legislation at the request of the Illinois Autism Society and Giant Steps Illinois, a school for autistic children in Burr Ridge. She said the education value of the plates is also important.
"(The plates) will raise the awareness of autism in the State of Illinois," Bellock said.
Illinois is not alone in its love of specialty plates. Virginia has more than 180 specialty plates, and Tennessee has more than 130. Texas and Florida both have more than 100 specialty plates available.
Rep. Jil Tracy, R-Mount Sterling, who introduced HB 3395 creating four new plates -- Girl Scout, Gold Award Girl Scout, Boy Scout and Eagle Scout -- said specialty plates are a trendy way to support a charity.
"I think people like to support a cause and they've got to have a license plate anyway," said Tracy, who has had domestic violence license plates and environmental plates on her car in the past.
Tracy said she is aware of the concerns of law enforcement, but said Scouting "is a very worthy cause."
Secretary of State spokesman Dave Druker estimates the cost of producing specialty plates is $5.23 a pair, not including the design cost. The Autism Awareness plate legislation specifies the office would receive $15 extra to issue the plates and $2 for each renewal.
In 2006, 23,686 specialty license plates were issued in Illinois, Druker said.
Laura Camper can be reached at 782-6882 or firstname.lastname@example.com.
Specialty license plates proposed this year and their status in the General Assembly:
*Agriculture in the classroom, ovarian cancer awareness: passed both houses.
*Rotary Club, Iraq/Afghanistan Campaign, autism awareness, IPGA Junior Golf, sudden infant death syndrome, Boy/Girl Scouts, Sheet Metal Workers International: passed one house, still alive in second.
*NASCAR: postponed.
*Boy Scouts, Special Olympics, SIDS, Fallen Veterans: failed or were tabled.


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The new issue of the Journal of Public Deliberation (Volume 8, Issue 2 – 2012) presents 13 new articles on participatory budgeting. Edited by Janette Hartz-Karpz (Curtin University) and Brian Wampler (Boise State University) "This special issue of the Journal of Public Deliberation brings together leading scholars expand our conceptual tools to understand why PB programs are being adopted, how governments are adapting the rules and principles to meet different policy and political goals, and the impact of PB on civil society, state reform, and social well-being."
Below links to the articles:
Whose Budget? Our Budget? Broadening Political Stakeholdership via Participatory Budgeting
Celina Su
By the People, For the People: Participatory Budgeting from the Bottom Up in North America
Josh Lerner and Donata Secondo
(In) stability, a key element to understand participatory budgeting: Discussing Portuguese cases.
Mariana Lopes Alves and Giovanni Allegretti
An Unlikely Success: Peru's Top-Down Participatory Budgeting Experience
Stephanie McNulty
Participatory budgeting – the Australian way
Nivek K. Thompson
Laying the Groundwork for Participatory Budgeting – Developing a Deliberative Community and Collaborative Governance: Greater Geraldton, Western Australia
Janette Hartz-Karp Prof
The World Bank and the Globalization of Participatory Budgeting
Benjamin Goldfrank
The Power of Ambiguity: How Participatory Budgeting Travels the Globe
Ernesto Ganuza and Gianpaolo Baiocchi
Transnational Models of Citizen Participation: The Case of Participatory Budgeting
Yves Sintomer, Carsten Herzberg, Anja Röcke, and Giovanni Allegretti
Transformative Deliberations: Participatory Budgeting in the United States
Hollie Russon Gilman
Participatory Budgeting: Core principles and Key Impacts
Brian Wampler
Participatory Budgeting: Diffusion and Outcomes across the World
Brian Wampler and Janette Hartz-karp


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Twelve years ago, while working at my very first real job right out of college, I created a website called The Chronicles of George in order to highlight the grammatically twisted help desk tickets produced by a coworker. I was a much younger and angrier person then, and the idea of putting up a website to ridicule someone else seemed hilarious and appropriate. Besides, it's not like anyone was really going to see the thing, right? It would be a dumb little lark I could share with my friends. That would be that.
More the fool, I. The CoG was noticed by a few USENET groups and within a month, I'd blown through traffic caps on two separate Web hosts. Local morning radio shows started calling. The site ended up as a Screen Savers "Site of the Nite" and a Yahoo Pick, and at its peak of popularity it did about 90,000 pageviews a day. Clearly, George's mangled help desk tickets and his characteristic verb tense—"havening," "receivening," and so on—had struck a collective Internet nerve.
However, the site is more than simply a bunch of screenshots and snarky commentary: there's a lesson to be learned in many of the malformed help desk tickets about the state of technical support. Problems run far deeper than just bad spelling.
A systemic problem
A few weeks ago, Ars asked what you think is wrong with technical support, and boy, did the responses ever roll in. The complaints came from both the folks who call into help desks and from the folks who work on those help desks. Responses were legion, though everyone seemed to be able to agree on an overarching point: whether you're calling for help or providing help, technical support is an awful thing that no one likes. There are shining points of light here and there where an individual has a fabulous, helpful support call. But as a whole, the comments were overwhelmingly negative about both the experience of receiving support and the experience of dispensing it. Whose fault is it, really?
Getting help from jerks
The complaint most often repeated by posters on the customer side involved the near-universal use of "scripts" by help desk techs. These guide the technician down a carefully prepared list of common frontline troubleshooting steps, but they also often enrage customers by forcing them to comply with instructions that often have little or nothing to do with the problem they've called in. ("No, rebooting my computer is not going to fix the toner sense error message flashing on my printer's screen!").
Another common complaint was a perceived lack of knowledge and respect on the part of the technicians. There is a hard-to-shake pervasive cultural image of the bored and unskilled phone support person berating a customer for failing to follow ill-described directions. So posters vented no small amount of resentment about often knowing far more than the technician, but still being forced to comply with seemingly capricious basic troubleshooting before being escalated to a more skilled engineering resource (you know, the type with the ability to actually solve problems).
This leads to a third complaint: there is generally no way for a skilled customer who has already accomplished a lot of basic troubleshooting to skip the first-tier support people—the "help desk firewall," as one poster cleverly put it. You simply can't directly access the people with the knowledge to address more complex issues. The XKCD Shibboleet strip was mentioned more than once by way of example; such a key phrase would go far to eliminate a tremendous amount of angst-filled wasted time as the seemingly moronic first-level helpdesker plods through seemingly useless troubleshooting steps.
Giving help to idiots
The feelings from the other side of the phone were just as vitriolic. An oft-repeated sentiment was that "all customers are liars." It's a cynical point of view, but much like Dr. Gregory House says, it seems to be true more often than not. The help desk workers overwhelmingly reported torrential abuse at the hands of customers who do anything and everything they possibly can to avoid giving correct information, and who seem to take a perverse pride in their ignorance about how computers function. The goal on the customers' parts is often to get their problem resolved as quickly as possible, without respect for process and sometimes without admitting they've missed basic steps.
Beyond that, help desk workers are frustrated to face sometimes frantic and enraged requests for assistance with basic tasks, which tie up time better spent on solving more complex problems. Passwords that were remembered on a Friday are forgotten like clockwork every Monday morning. A laptop won't boot because it isn't fully seated on a docking station. Excel is "broken" because scroll lock is on. When chided for not having even rudimentary computer knowledge in spite of a computer being an integral part of their job, annoyed users often fire back with the tired old saw: "You don't have to know how to fix a car in order to drive one." This is true, but although you don't need to be able to fix the car, you should at least know what the steering wheel does.
The biggest problem reported, though, was that customers simply can't be bothered to provide enough information to correctly diagnose a problem. Techs complained that getting an accurate picture of what might be wrong with a customer's machine is sometimes impossible; a call often starts with a customer saying "My computer's broke," and then responding to requests for more information with an angry "I don't know what's wrong—that's your job! Fix it!" It's hard not to feel frustration when confronted with enraged entitlement.
Couples counseling
Much like an arguing couple who has been fighting for years, it's difficult for either side to see and acknowledge that the other's points have merit. Stepping back from the heat and looking at the laundry list of complaints, though, it's clear most of the things being complained about are symptoms, not actual causes. There are two things that both sides lack: empathy and trust.
This is easy to see—I should be a doctor! But much like a licensed professional counselor might tell a pair of folks they need to listen to and trust each other more, it's difficult to actually do. Merely being more empathetic and trusting won't automatically fix everything. Unfortunately, there are significant outside factors dogging technical support as well.
Still, it's hard to ignore the basics. The lack of trust by itself is a high hurdle to overcome, and it results in most customers approaching a tech support call with the attitude of "What am I going to have to tell this unhelpful jerk in order to get my problem fixed?" Most corresponding techs answer the phone thinking something like, "What is this idiot liar going to try to pull over on me now?"
Worse, outsourcing—and more specifically off-shoring—is far and away the most damaging thing to happen to the customer/support relationship since its inception. Sadly, even the sagest of technical advice can be rendered useless when filtered through a strong enough accent. I'm as guilty of this as anyone else—when I call a support line and fight my way through the IVR menu only to eventually get a person who is clearly from Mumbai on the line, I feel an immediate sense of despair. My perception, based on a decade of terrible support experiences, is that I need to do everything I can to get past this person and get through to someone who actually can communicate effectively and fix my problem. Like most assumptions, this thinking will make an... well, you know the phrase.
Beyond trust, empathy is another killer. Customers rarely take into account that the seemingly bored and annoyed technician they're dealing with is paid based on the number of calls per hour he closes. Or that the ridiculous script is mandated by his company and deviation from it can skew his metrics, possibly even cost him his job. Conversely, it's difficult for pressured techs to realize the seemingly endless stream of "idiots" they have to assist are real people. The problem they're calling in with, trivial as it might seem to the tech, is of huge importance to the customer.


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Hi! My name is Heidi from Boys, Buttons, and Butterflies. I grew up in a household that didn't celebrate Halloween or go trick-or-treating, so I have always been intrigued by the holiday. Since I first took my oldest son trick-or-treating fourteen years ago, I have wanted to take Halloween more seriously.
This fall, I fell in love with Trick-or-Treat by Deb Strain. I couldn't resist the urge to make a simple quilt with this fabric!
1 jelly roll (Trick or Treat by Deb Strain)
4.5 yards of Moda Marble (purple)
Acrylic ruler that includes a 60 degree angle
Basic quilting supplies
Variegated thread (purple/pink/gray tones)
Divide the rest of the strips into sets of four using the white, black, and orange.
Sort the four colors in different orders. I used the green as my guide for all the groupings. Sometimes it was first, sometimes second, and so on! When you have run out of green (because you will!), sort the rest of the strips in orange, black, and white colors to make more collections of four.
Sew each strip with 1/4 inch seam. Press. You will have several lovely rectangles!!
Now it is time to meet your acrylic ruler and it's 60 degree angle markings. The arrows are on the lines that you will line up your fabric top edge with.
The line that is marked with the 60 degree number along the top edge of your rectangle.
Make your first cut at the left edge of your strips laid out lengthwise.
After the first cut, pivot your ruler and line the rule with top ledge with the 60 degree angle line going the other direction to make a triangle.
Continue down the fabric making 62 total triangles with ALL of the stripped rectangles.
Cut four 8.5 inch strips from the width of the Moda Marble (purple). Then cut 22 triangles using the 60 degree angle exactly the same way you did for the strip triangles.
Using the photo below, layout your triangles to make hexagon shapes with the strip pieced triangles and purple triangles in between. There are nine complete hexagons and two incomplete hexagons. Arrange the triangles so that the green is distributed throughout each hexagon and that the colors alternate rows. Don't stress too much about it. I did and it wasn't worth it!!! If you are worried, just follow the order I have below!
Piece the triangles together.
You will have six vertical strips.
Press the seams. Clean up the dog ears and snip the center where the three triangles meet to eliminate bulkiness when piecing the strips.
Pin the strips together and sew.
Pin each seam after aligning to ensure the finished seams will match up.
Fold them out and press.
Cut two 3 x 60 inch pieces and two 3 x 50 inch pieces from the length of the purple Moda Marble for sashing.
There is an imaginary line that you will make across the top and bottom of your quilt. Use the tips of the hexagons on the end as your guide.
Use the sashing along that imaginary line as a guide and then place your ruler at the edge to trim the "dog ears" to ensure a straight cut across the quilt.
Piece sashing to all four sides.
Backing. Cut four pieces of Moda Marble (purple) for the backing in the following measurements:
- 32 x 60 inches
- 18 x 40 inches
- 3 x 18 inches
- 3 x 17 inches
Piece the backing following this diagram. The orange hexagon and purple triangles represent the leftover strip pieced triangles and purple triangles to make one final "web".
Quilt. I love to spray baste my cotton batting and then get to work.
I set out to do stitch in the ditch for the webs and free motion quilting with spiders in the purple background, but when I set up my machine to start and had the foot over the webs, I instantly thought of the movie Coraline.
There is a part where Coraline is trapped in a web and it seems to stretch into a spiral. The quilting was meant to be and I am really pleased with the primitive spirals around jarring color changes and straight lines.
I then ditched my plans for spiders because the fabric was already too busy. I decided to quilt very symmetrical triangles in the purple areas. I left an open area in each triangle center.
Variegated thread seemed the best choice for the webs and a complementary purple for the Moda Marble. It really detracted the fact that it was crossing white fabrics all the way to black. I definitely see myself using this more in the future.
I also used the variegated thread in the bobbin and it made the backing more interesting.
Binding. Don't forget that you saved the six candy corn strips!! Piece each strip together to make one long strip of my favorite candies!
They are perfect fit for the 1 1/4 inch Quilt Binding Tip for my machine. However, no need for the machine. Don't fear…you can just fold it in half and iron it! I have done it without any difficulties for many years until I bought this gadget!
I like to sew the binding by machine to the front of my quilt matching the raw edges of the binding and the quilt. I then hand sewing the folded edge to the back. I was really pleased with the idea of alternating the background colors of black, white and orange. They blend seamlessly and are interesting at the same time.
1 Halloween Quilt 50 x 60 inches.
Great for a picnic or hayride. I actually plan on using it as a tablecloth for the celebrations. It fits my kitchen table wonderfully!
If you like this quilt tutorial, come join Button and me over at my blog, Boys, Buttons, and Butterflies to see some other quilts and craft tutorials while I manage four boys. Baby Button and I are always up to no good most days while the rest of the boys are at school!
Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you enjoy this tutorial!
Any questions? Email me at firstname.lastname@example.com
Heidi Grohs


text:
Courtesy of Washington Fine Properties, LLC, Piper Yerks
Listing Contact:
All information deemed reliable but not guaranteed and should be independently verified. All properties are subject to prior sale, change, or withdrawal. Neither listing broker(s), the owner of this website, nor Luxury Presence shall be responsible for any typographical errors, misinformation, misprints and shall be held totally harmless. This information is for your personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties you may be interested in purchasing. The display of MLS data is usually deemed reliable but is NOT guaranteed accurate by the MLS. Buyers are responsible for verifying the accuracy of all information should investigate the data themselves or retain appropriate professionals. Information from sources other than the Listing Agent may have been included in the MLS data. Unless otherwise specified in writing, Broker/Agent has not and will not verify any information obtained from other sources. The Broker/Agent providing the information contained herein may or may not have been the Listing and/or Selling Agent.
©2023 BRIGHT MLS. All rights reserved.
Data last updated 11:01 PM UTC, 5/28/23


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text:
Bernanke signals that Fed will stick with low-rate policies
WASHINGTON - Ben Bernanke sent a message Tuesday to Congress: The Federal Reserve's low-interest-rate policies are giving crucial support to an economy still burdened by high unemployment.
The Fed chairman acknowledged the risks of keeping rates low indefinitely. But he expressed confidence that such risks pose little threat now.
Delivering the Fed's semiannual monetary report to Congress, Bernanke sought to minimize concerns that the central bank's easy-money policies might cause runaway inflation later or dangerous bubbles in assets like stocks.
He sought to reassure sometimes-skeptical senators that the Fed is monitoring potential threats and can defuse them before they hurt the economy.
Several Fed policymakers said at their most recent meeting that the Fed might have to scale back its bond purchases because of the risks. Those comments, contained in minutes released last week, fanned speculation that the Fed might soon allow long-term borrowing rates to rise. Stock prices fell sharply.
But Bernanke gave no signal that the Fed might shift away from its low-interest-rate policy. He said its aggressive program to buy $85 billion a month in Treasurys and mortgage bonds had kept borrowing costs low. And that, in turn, has helped strengthen sectors such as housing and autos, he said.
On budget policy, Bernanke urged Congress to replace the automatic spending cuts due to start Friday with more gradual reductions in budget deficits in the short run. He said that the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the automatic spending cuts that take effect Friday would shave growth by 0.6 percentage point this year.
Economists said Bernanke made clear the Fed has no plans to scale back its pace of bond purchases.
"That policy will continue to be supportive for growth, with no sign of imminent plans to scale down (the bond purchases) and certainly no plans to remove accommodation for a very long time," said Jim O'Sullivan, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics.
Addressing concerns that the bond purchases, which have pushed the Fed's balance sheet to a record high above $3 trillion, could trigger high inflation, Bernanke said:
"Inflation is currently subdued and inflation expectations appear well-anchored. We do not see the potential costs of the increased risk-taking in some financial markets as outweighing the benefits of promoting a stronger economic recovery and more-rapid job creation."
He said that over the past six months, the economy has grown moderately but unevenly. Bernanke said the pause in growth seen in the final three months of 2012 "does not appear to be a stalling-out of the recovery." He said growth appears to have picked up in the past two months.
Shortly before the Fed chairman spoke, several reports pointed to surprising economic strength: Americans' confidence in the economy rebounded this month, new-home sales jumped in January to the highest level since 2008, home prices rose at a healthy pace in December compared with a year ago and profits of U.S. banks jumped last quarter to the highest level in six years.
Bernanke was asked whether the Fed's bond buying could push its balance sheet to $4 trillion. He said that it has no target for how much in bonds it plans to buy.
He noted that the Fed's balance sheet is less than that of the Bank of Japan, which has battled for more than two decades to strengthen the sluggish Japanese economy.
Asked about possible threats to the U.S. economy from Europe's financial crisis, including new fears about Italy, Bernanke said that the exposure of American banks to Italy's debt was small.
He said a bigger threat could emerge if investors grew worried that the debt crisis might suddenly be worsening. He doesn't foresee such a threat, Bernanke said.


text:
Monday, March 22, 2010
Flower Pot Bread - Blue Monday
From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Saturday was a beautiful day in the Willamette Valley. We spent the morning at the Junction City Daffodil Festival, but the day was so lovely, that Bob and I couldn't bring ourselves to return home and attend to the chores we should be doing. We headed, instead, to some local nurseries to check out new stock. I also needed clay pots to use as molds for ornamental breads that would be used as centerpieces for a luncheon. I've made flower pot breads before and they are really not hard to do. While a lovely sweet bread or brioche could be used to fill the pots, I planned to use a reasonably plain white bread dough. The loaves were to be used for decoration only and it didn't make much sense to spend a lot of time or money on something that wouldn't be eaten. I hasten to add that the bread is edible, but in its unwrapped state it will stale quickly. The bread I used is simple to make and, as luck would have it, I could pass the finished loaves on to others for final decorating. Actually, the only difficult part of my chore was seasoning the pots to make them fit for baking. It's tedious work but not hard. I set aside 3 hours to season twelve pots and get the bread ready for its first, and only, rise. I'm including instructions for seasoning the flower pots, along with the recipe for the very easy bread I used to make them. Here's how it's done.
Flower Pot Bread...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite, courtesy of Recipezaar
Directions for seasoning Terra Cotta Flower Pots:
1) Take two (6-inch) new terra cotta flower pots. Wash thoroughly, drain dry and grease them inside and outside, with shortening, butter or oil. Make sure to coat the rims as well
2) Heat pots in a pre-heated oven at 375 degrees F. for 25-30 minutes. Remove. Let cool. Repeat process two or three more times to create a non-stick surface on flower pots. Be careful not to burn yourself.
Flower Pot Bread
3-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons sugar, divided use
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2-1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
Egg wash: 1 egg + 1 teaspoon water or milk
Optional Extras
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
2 tablespoons mixed seeds
2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds
2 tablespoons chopped walnuts
1) Grease inside and rim of 2 (6-inch) flower pots with shortening, oil or butter. Set aside.
2) Combine water and 1 teaspoon sugar in a small bowl. Sprinkle dry yeast over water. Let sit until frothy, about 10 minutes.
3) Combine flour, salt and reserved 2 teaspoons sugar in a large bowl. Add any extras you want to use. Add yeast mixture and oil. Mix to form a smooth dough. Turn onto floured board and knead until smooth and no longer sticky, about 10 minutes.
4) Cut dough into 6 equal pieces. Form each piece into a ball. Place 3 balls in the bottom of each flower pot. Place on a baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
5) Meanwhile preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Brush top of loaves with egg wash. sprinkle with seeds if desired. Bake loaves in middle of oven for 30 minutes, or until bread is a rich golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped. Remove bread from oven. Cool on rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pots and continue cooling on wire racks until bread is at room temperature. Bread can be served in flower pots or decoratively wrapped. Yield: 2 loaves.
You might also enjoy these recipes:
Kaiser Rolls - One Perfect Bite
Anadama Rolls - One Perfect Bite
St. Lucia Buns - One Perfect Bite
This post is being linked to:
Smiling Sally - Blue Monday
This post is being linked to:
Wild Yeast - Yeast Spotting
70 comments :
- Angie's Recipes said...
WOW Mary Using flower pot is such a super duper idea! This would make a great Easter bread! I love it.
Have a lovely Monday!
- March 22, 2010 at 2:57 AM
- Dajana said...
What beautiful looking flower pots! Too bad it's only decoration, it would be hard for me to resist.
- March 22, 2010 at 3:07 AM
- Deb in Hawaii said...
What a fun idea--the bread looks lovely in the flower pot. I would want to eat it too! ;-)
- March 22, 2010 at 4:02 AM
- Allie and Pattie said...
Mary, you brought bck memories of happy days with my kids and with my girl scouts making these breads. (but we ate ours!)
xoxo Pattie
- March 22, 2010 at 5:04 AM
- MaryMoh said...
What an interesting way to bake bread! Looks like lot of fun. Thanks very much for sharing.
- March 22, 2010 at 5:08 AM
- KathyB. said...
I have actually baked bread in flower pots AND eaten it, I don't have the recipe on file and might try yours. Do you ever bake bread in flower pots with intent to eat? Is this recipe good for that? ( beautiful bread)
- March 22, 2010 at 6:45 AM
- ♥Sugar♥Plum♥Fairy♥ said...
MAry, this is so so good....i love the idea of the flower pots so so so muc....damn cool....and super bread....
- March 22, 2010 at 6:58 AM
- Martha said...
Spring -- food in flower pots -- what a great idea! The bread looks great!
- March 22, 2010 at 7:09 AM
- Ana Powell said...
Wow, loved the idea.
Great and so beautiful x
- March 22, 2010 at 7:09 AM
- Unknown said...
This brings back memories for me too! We ate the bread also! But I just used my normal bread recipe.
- March 22, 2010 at 7:10 AM
- Sam Hoffer / My Carolina Kitchen said...
These are gorgeous Mary. What a great way to celebrate spring.
- March 22, 2010 at 7:29 AM
- bj said...
OMGosh, Mary...how cool is this. It looks fabulous. I would LOVE to do this for Easter and have my family eat this beautiful bread.
We have a neat place to eat that serves their Chicken Pot Pie in these pots and, boy, are they good!!
- March 22, 2010 at 7:31 AM
- Hayley said...
Wow...Lovely bread in flower pot!! In India still many people drink their tea in small clay pot!!
- March 22, 2010 at 8:03 AM
- Kristen said...
Your talking about the daffodil festival took me back to my WA days with the many tulip and daffodil parades and festivals there. That and berries are what I miss most about the northwest. Love the bread idea. It would look great on a festive spring table.
- March 22, 2010 at 8:38 AM
- Kim said...
They look lovely! I bet they were gorgeous at your luncheon. I'm willing to bet that someone tried to eat one;D
- March 22, 2010 at 8:57 AM
- Deana Sidney said...
That is the most perfect bread ever...and in a pot! I remember those clay cloches they had in France... perfect bread too. I can see these breads hiding in spring flowers on a Spring table. Great recipe and execution!!!
- March 22, 2010 at 9:01 AM
- R3 Method Show said...
Just when I thought I had seen it all, you hit me with the flower pot bread!:)
- March 22, 2010 at 9:14 AM
- Federica Simoni said...
- March 22, 2010 at 9:21 AM
- Ann W said...
What a great centerpiece idea. And the look of the bread is, in a sense, in the shape of a flower itself. Plant and Garden Blog
- March 22, 2010 at 9:44 AM
- Alessandra said...
The images are so sweet! I didn't know that you have to 'bake' the pot more than once, thank you!
- March 22, 2010 at 10:07 AM
- Hungry Dog said...
Wow, these are amazing! I can't imagine making these but they look absolutely beautiful and delicious!
- March 22, 2010 at 10:20 AM
- My Little Space said...
What a fun idea, Mary! So cute!
- March 22, 2010 at 10:20 AM
- Joe Ambrosino said...
How do you take such beautiful pictures? I love to bake bread--it truly relaxes me.
- March 22, 2010 at 10:35 AM
- Andreas said...
Beautiful bread.
They should be good for eating, especially if you go to the trouble of adding sugar, which doesn't show in the look of the bread.
- March 22, 2010 at 11:08 AM
- Sally said...
Love the blue pot. Happy Blue Monday.
- March 22, 2010 at 11:10 AM
- The Diva on a Diet said...
Wow, this is perhaps the prettiest thing I've seen in a long time. The flower pot breads are just darling and such a labor of love too. Thanks so much for sharing this unique idea ... its a first for me! :)
- March 22, 2010 at 11:38 AM
- ♥ Kathy said...
How pretty Mary...Happy Blue Monday :)
- March 22, 2010 at 11:40 AM
- Cathy said...
A great idea, Mary, and the break looks beautiful in the little pots. I remember my girls making something similar when they were Brownies. Your bread certainly looks good enough to eat.
- March 22, 2010 at 12:03 PM
- Kim, USA said...
Wow that is very unique!! Love it!
MYM=Bird or chicken?
Macro Monday~ The bud
- March 22, 2010 at 12:28 PM
- Susan C said...
Oh, man. If I was sitting at a table with these beautiful flower pot breads, I would have a hard time resisting the bread!
- March 22, 2010 at 1:44 PM
- black eyed susans kitchen said...
What a unique and clever idea! This would make a wonderful house gift.
♥, Susan
- March 22, 2010 at 2:00 PM
- The Blonde Duck said...
How cute!
- March 22, 2010 at 2:41 PM
- NKP said...
I have always wanted to make flower pot bread - thanks for the seasoning tips.
They are so cute!
- March 22, 2010 at 3:08 PM
- Tiffanee said...
This is darling! What a fun gift to take to someone. Love it!! Thanks!!
- March 22, 2010 at 3:30 PM
- Juliana said...
Oh! Such a nice way to welcome Spring...with one of my favorite food...bread! Very cute!
- March 22, 2010 at 4:19 PM
- Bob said...
Looks amazing, seems a shame not to eat it.
- March 22, 2010 at 4:30 PM
- Arlette said...
what a creative idea ...
I read about it long time ago, and totaly forgot it...
the bread looks awesome and will be a nice edible centre pieces on the table
- March 22, 2010 at 4:49 PM
- Joanne said...
Bread only for decoration! That just seems silly to me. Especially when it looks as delicious as this! Love those topping and thanks for the seasoning advice.
- March 22, 2010 at 5:24 PM
- Inspired by eRecipeCards said...
what agreat post... not so much for the bread (which sounds like a great idea for a centerpiece to me!), but for the glazing of the "ordinary" terra cotta flower pots... Last time my wife made this, she bought VERY expensive pots.
- March 22, 2010 at 5:45 PM
- DailyChef said...
Wow, your blog is always full of great, novel ideas. This looks gorgeous. Thanks for the idea, Mary!
- March 22, 2010 at 6:19 PM
A local KC restaurant used to serve a flower pot of bread with honey butter to each table. Yum!
Martha in KS
- March 22, 2010 at 6:32 PM
- Rachana said...
Using flower pot is such a lovely idea Mary!!! the bread looks wow!!!!
- March 22, 2010 at 6:35 PM
- La Bella Cooks said...
The bread looks absolutely delicious and what a fun and creative Spring idea with the pot. I love this and it would make a great gift as well.
- March 22, 2010 at 7:01 PM
- Cooking Rookie said...
Such a cool idea to use a flower pot! Wow. It's pretty much the same material as the bakeware but about 20 times cheaper. Genius :-) ANd your bread looks so beautiful!
- March 22, 2010 at 7:51 PM
- A Canadian Foodie said...
Absolutely luscious. How do you take your photos with the white background. Please tell me. I just got a new dslr and am dying to know. Great Easter Bread.!!!
- March 22, 2010 at 8:24 PM
- A Canadian Foodie said...
PS - I am a follower and have never received an update or a recipe from you as indicated on your left column. Can you upload a plugin so that I can sign up and receive your new posts into my e-mail?
- March 22, 2010 at 8:26 PM
- Maria said...
How creative! I love it!
- March 22, 2010 at 9:36 PM
- Jessica - The Novice Chef said...
This looks absolutely delicious!
- March 22, 2010 at 11:16 PM
- Megan said...
I didnt relize you had to season the flower pots first. Cant wait to try this!
- March 22, 2010 at 11:19 PM
- sophia said...
Haha, how whimsical! I've actually heard of this, but never saw it for myself...it's like from a fairytale or something! So delightful.
- March 22, 2010 at 11:28 PM
- Federica Simoni said...
Ciao Mary! grazie della tua visita!!
il pulsante traduttore lo trovi a destra sotto la mia foto del profilo!!
buona giornata!! ciao ciao!
- March 23, 2010 at 2:06 AM
- Katy ~ said...
I love the look of this, have never attempted it, but would make such a great presentation for a special occasion.
- March 23, 2010 at 4:52 AM
- T.W. Barritt at Culinary Types said...
This is beautiful! I've never seen flower pot bread before - it's charming!
- March 23, 2010 at 5:23 AM
- Beverly said...
Mary, you never cease to amaze me. I know the flower pot bread will add so much to the ambiance of the occasion.
- March 23, 2010 at 9:08 AM
- ARUNA said...
Such a pretty dish......wat a fun idea!!!!
- March 23, 2010 at 10:22 AM
- Katie @ Cozydelicious said...
Thanks for stopping by my site, Mary - and now I'm so excited to come and visit yours! I have never seen flower pot bread before but it is SO adorable! What a fantastic idea! I imagine these are a huge hit when you use them as centerpieces.
- March 23, 2010 at 11:14 AM
- Valérie said...
The recipe sounds simple enough, but the execution is wonderful! So original!
- March 23, 2010 at 11:40 AM
- Rambling Tart said...
Ah Mary, this is beautiful! I love those glossy little loaves, looking so warm and inviting. :-)
- March 23, 2010 at 12:56 PM
- The Kitchen Masochist said...
Very clever and creative. Lovely presentation!
Your 'like-ability' has moved up in my book. I like and appreciate people who think outside the box. :)
- March 23, 2010 at 1:08 PM
- Chef Diva said...
Wow you are very creative. I love BREAD! This recipe looks good. Thanks for posting it.
- March 23, 2010 at 2:39 PM
- TeaLady said...
GREAT idea. I have one small pot that I have used for cakes, but had not thot of breads. Now I will.
Thanks for visiting my blog earlier.
- March 23, 2010 at 4:19 PM
- Ms. Meanie said...
What a cute idea. I did something similar to the ends of my cinnamon rolls by baking them in a ramekin. Your bread looks beautiful.
- March 23, 2010 at 4:57 PM
- Unknown said...
wow! yummy :)
- March 23, 2010 at 6:18 PM
- Carol said...
Longwood Gardens used to serve flowerpot bread. So yummy! Have a great week!
- March 23, 2010 at 7:09 PM
Now that you've got all of those seasoned pots, take a look at the desserts posted by Pioneer Woman - http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/03/a-blast-from-the-past/
We used to call it Dirt Cake. Bet your grandkids would love them!
Martha in KS
- March 24, 2010 at 6:14 PM
- Mary Bergfeld said...
Will do, Martha. Thanks!
- March 24, 2010 at 7:12 PM
- Mimi said...
We had bread baked this way at a restaurant in Cambria, CA called the Sows Ear. They did a marbled white/whole wheat bread. I was of course very distracted by the it. I had to stare at it, pick it up, look in the pot as I ate the bread. It's a very clever idea, really cute!
- March 26, 2010 at 2:56 PM
- Lynn @Mama_Says said...
What a WOW idea - bread baked in a terra cotta flower pot - edible and a centerpiece. Any I thought my use of herbs as a centerpiece was inspired was green, clever and fun. Your flower pot bread is so inspiring!
- April 1, 2010 at 9:53 PM
- Barbara said...
Homemade bread in a clay pot! What a fabulous idea, Mary!! Such fun for a luncheon.
The recipe looks healthy too.. all those seeds and nuts!
You win the clever idea or the day for sure!
- April 22, 2010 at 1:58 PM
- singapore florist said...
seems so delectable bread, hopefully it's less sugar so can taste it a lot :D
Love from Valentine day flowers :)
- January 24, 2011 at 3:38 AM


text:
From Anne McIlroy's article, titled "You May Know How You'll Vote Before You Know It," in the Science section of the Globe and Mail:
Undecided about how you will vote if there is a federal election this fall? New research suggests you may not know your own mind.
Voters make decisions at an unconscious level before they deliberate about their options, University of Western Ontario psychologist Bertram Gawronski said.
In the latest edition of the journal Science, he and two Italian researchers report on a technique that may allow pollsters one day to read the minds of undecided voters and accurately predict whom they will end up supporting.
* * *
In the Science article, he and colleagues Luciano Arcuri and Silvia Galdi at the University of Padova describe an experiment conducted in Vicenza, Italy. They interviewed 129 residents about a proposed enlargement of a U.S. military base in their community and asked if they were if favour, opposed or undecided about the expansion.
The volunteers also took a computer-based test.
For those who were undecided, the speed at which they linked pictures of the military base to positive words such as "happy" or "luck," compared with negative words such as "awful" or "pain," proved to be predictive of the decision they eventually made about the expansion. The test revealed what Dr. Gawronski and his colleagues call positive or negative automatic mental associations.
Other researchers, including Harvard University psychologist [and Situationist contributor] Mahzarin Banaji, have used a similar technique to get at the subtle, ingrained biases that people are not aware of, but which may shape their behaviour.
* * *
From Stefan Lovgren's article, "'Undecided" Voters' Minds Already Made Up, Study Says," in National Geographic News:
* * *
[Situationist contributor] Timothy Wilson, . . . the author of the book Strangers to Ourselves: Discovering the Adaptive Unconscious [click on book's cover in right margin for more information], said there are two interpretations of the study results.
"It may be that participants really had made up their minds and just didn't know it yet," said Wilson, who was not involved with the study but wrote an accompanying article in this week's Science.
"Or they may have been leaning in one direction unconsciously and that biased how they interpreted the information they got about the issue in subsequent days."
Gawronski, the study co-author, says automatic mental associations play a particularly important role in a person's decision-making when it comes to ambiguous situations, such as political debates.
"In a debate between Obama and McCain, it may not be entirely clear who showed the better performance," he said.
"But undecided voters with more favorable associations with McCain may see him as the one who did the better job" and vice versa, Gawronski said.
"It's this biased perception of events that then provide the basis of their future decisions," he added.
* * *
To download a pdf of the Science article (Silvia Galdi, Luciano Arcuri, & Bertram Gawronski, Automatic mental associations predict future choices of undecided decision-makers, 321 Science 1100-1102 (2008)), click here.
To listen to an NPR Science Friday interview of Dr. Gawronski and discussion of the undecided-voter research, click here.
For a sample of related Situationist posts, see "Voting for a Face," "The Situation of Swift-Boating," "On Being a Mindful Voter," "Implicit Associations in the 2008 Presidential Election," "The Situation of Political Animals," and "Your Brain on Politics." For other posts on the Situation of politics, click here.


text:
George Will: At Gettysburg, choices mattered
In the 1780s, the son of a farmer in south-central Pennsylvania purchased from his father 116 acres where two roads intersected. He laid out 210 lots for a town he named for himself. He was James Gettys.
What happened when two armies collided there 150 years ago was, some might argue, not the most important battle in American history or even in the Civil War. The 1777 defeat of the British at Saratoga won French support for the American Revolution. The Battle of Antietam (Sept. 17, 1862) enabled Abraham Lincoln to redefine the war by issuing the Emancipation Proclamation. The Battle of Midway sealed Japan's fate.
But the Revolution would have succeeded without French assistance: No distant island could govern this continent. Japan's defeat was assured when its attack on Pearl Harbor enraged a continental superpower. And in spite of Antietam, which repulsed the first invasion of the North, secession could still have succeeded if Robert E. Lee's second invasion had shattered Northern support for the war by smashing the Union army at Gettysburg.
Antietam would have shortened the war, saving hundreds of thousands of lives, if Gen. George McClellan, among the most disagreeable figures in American history, had pursued the retreating Lee. But Antietam was most important for what it enabled Lincoln to proclaim 106 days later. Gettysburg was most important for what it achieved, not for giving the president an occasion to deliver an address there 139 days later.
Studying history serves democracy by highlighting contingencies: Things did not need to turn out the way they did; choices matter. Since Hegel, Marx and other 19th-century philosophers decided that history is History -- a proper noun, an autonomous force unfolding an inner logic -- humanity has been told that vast, impersonal forces dictate events, nullifying human agency.
But they don't. Choices matter. They certainly did during the first three days of July 1863 at the town of 2,390 people seven miles north of the Mason-Dixon line. In "Intruder in the Dust," William Faulkner famously invoked the tantalizing power of possibility:
"For every Southern boy fourteen years old, not once but whenever he wants it, there is the instant when it's still not yet two o'clock on that July afternoon in 1863, the brigades are in position behind the rail fence. ... That moment doesn't need even a fourteen-year-old boy to think (BEG ITAL)This time. Maybe this time(END ITAL) with all this much to lose and all this much to gain: Pennsylvania, Maryland, the world, the golden dome of Washington itself."
But before what is remembered as Pickett's Charge -- mostly a brisk 19-minute walk -- headed toward Cemetery Ridge, choices made by Lee and some of his generals had put victory beyond the reach of valor. They were, however, (BEG ITAL)choices(END ITAL).
Books about battles, historian Allen C. Guelzo says tartly, have "acquired among my academic peers a reputation close to pornography," war being, in their eyes, chiefly a manifestation of American savagery. But, he says dryly, one cannot discuss the 19th century without discussing the Civil War era, whose "singular event was a war." And one conducted, not least at Gettysburg, with an "amateurism" -- a "bewildered, small-town incompetence" -- that magnified its bloodiness.
The theory that it was the first "modern" or "total" war is, Guelzo acutely says, refuted by "the silent witness of places like Gettysburg, where almost all of the buildings that sat in the path of the battle are still [there]" because the technology of war was too limited to destroy them. A stray bullet killed just one civilian -- Mary Virginia Wade, who picked a bad time to bake bread.
For those who Guelzo calls the war's "cultured despisers," the Union cause was mere dull democracy, whereas "emancipation makes a better story for our times." But as Lincoln said at Gettysburg, the war's ultimate purpose was to preserve the Union in order to prove democracy's viability. "Unless the Union was restored," Guelzo says, "there would be no practical possibility of emancipation, since the overwhelming majority of American slaves would, in that case, end up living in a foreign country, and beyond the possible grasp of Lincoln's best anti-slavery intentions."
Lee was, a colleague said, "audacity personified." His temperament and intellect were mutually reinforcing, his aggressiveness serving his strategic understanding: The South would lose a protracted defensive war. After Antietam, Lee said: "If I could do so, I would again cross the Potomac and invade Pennsylvania." Hence a small crossroads town became the hinge of American, and hence world, history.
George Will's email address is firstname.lastname@example.com.
Washington Post Writers Group